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The English / e / sound (the vowel sound in bet or let) is
similar to the English / ey / sound (the vowel sound in bait
or late), but for / e /, the position of the tongue is slightly
lower and more relaxed. The / e / sound is also shorter than
the / ey / sound and is a single sound (the / ey / sound is
really a combination of two sounds).
The most common spelling for the vowel / e / is e + one
or more consonants:
bed, belt, bend, bench, best, bet, better, beverage, bled, bred;
check, chest;
deck, dell, den, depth, desk;
edge, edible, egg, elm, else, end, establish;
fed, fell, feminine, fender, flesh, fresh;
gelatin, gem, gender, gesture, get;
hefty, hem, hen;
jelly, jet;
led, leg, less, let, level;
men, mess, met;
neck, nest, net, next;
peg, pen, pep, pest, pet, press;
rebel, red, regular, rent, rest, retch;
sell, send, sent, September, set, settle, several, sexy;
tell, ten, tend, tent, test, text;
vegetable, vent, vest, veteran, vex;
wed, well, went, wept, west, wet;
yell, yes, yet
In a number of common words, however, / e / is also spelled ea:
bread, breath, dead, death, dread, head, health, instead,
lead (Pb), read (past), spread, stealth, thread, tread, wealth
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Special Notes:
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The combinations -ead and -eath are often
pronounced with / e /, but there are exceptions:
ea = / iy /:
bead, knead, lead (V), read (present);
heath, wreath
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| 2. |
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The past tense said (for say) and the common
word sweat are both pronounced with / e /,
not / iy /. |
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| 3. |
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The common words there, their, and heir also
have the vowel / e /.* |
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| 4. |
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When the letters ea and ai are followed by r*,
the vowel sound is often / e /:
bear, pear, swear, tear (V), wear;
air, chair, fair, hair, lair, pair, stair
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| 5. |
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The combination are* is also pronounced
with / e / in a number of common words:
bare, care, dare, fare, glare, hare, mare, pare,
rare, ware, share, spare, stare
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| 6. |
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Be careful!
Many words with / e / are pronounced the same,
but have different spellings and meanings--
for example,
bear / bare; bred / bread; hair / hare;
lead (Pb) / led; pair / pare / pear;
read (past) / red; stair / stare; wear / ware
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* Vowels with r will be treated later.
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